Barcelona 14/4/06 – Toyota 3rd and 14th fastest


By Nick Sparkes
April 14 2006

The final day of testing at Barcelona saw another successful day of running for the Panasonic Toyota Racing team, although unlike yesterday they weren’t the fastest car on the track. But, Jarno did put a Toyota in the top three, wrapping what has been, another successful week of testing.

But, it wouldn’t be testing without a Renault visiting the top of the time sheets, and it was the same old story today… not one Renault up front, but the pair of them! Heikki Kovalainen and Giancarlo Fisichella finished off the week with a Renault one-two, underlining their desire to remain the team to beat when Formula One returns to racing next weekend.

Behind the Renault pair came the Toyota of Jarno Trulli, who was extremely happy after his two day test, having looked at long runs on his outing today. "We continued testing the tyres today, doing a lot of long runs. With each test the tyres are improving and today we confirmed what I said yesterday, we have made a huge improvement in the handling of the car. We are consistently making progress and getting quicker in comparison to the first races. In general, I feel more comfortable about the car fitting my driving style, especially now when we are heading into the next race. Imola was never really kind to the team, but nevertheless, our times show that we can get more out of the car and we are ready to show our potential."

Jenson Button, Michael Schumacher and Kimi Raikkonen finished behind the Toyota man, albeit still within a second of the Renault pair upfront.

Ralf Schumacher again finished near the bottom of the times, with only a Williams and Super Aguri behind him. But Ralf is looking forward to the next race, even if he spent the most of the day facing the wrong direction. "We worked on a typical tyre-testing programme as well as some set-ups today. We were trying to get through some long runs concentrating mainly on the construction for the coming races. Unfortunately I spun out late in the day, but we still were able to get a lot done. The car is showing progress and we are determined to maintain the upward momentum that we currently have. Next week in Imola, we will see where we stand and we are aiming to improve on our results we have had so far."

1 H. Kovalainen Renault Michelin 01:13.926 132
2 G. Fisichella Renault Michelin 01:14.302 90
3 J. Trulli Toyota Bridgestone 01:14.686 86
4 J. Button Honda Michelin 01:14.708 131
5 M. Schumacher Ferrari Bridgestone 01:14.734 78
6 K. Räikkönen McLaren Michelin 01:14.752 100
7 JP. Montoya McLaren Michelin 01:14.878 30
8 R. Barrichello Honda Michelin 01:15.018 54
9 F. Massa Ferrari Bridgestone 01:15.217 76
10 J. Villeneuve BMW Michelin 01:15.321 98
11 M. Webber Williams Bridgestone 01:15.338 83
12 A. Davidson Honda Michelin 01:15.583 69
13 R. Kubica BMW Michelin 01:15.791 97
14 R. Schumacher Toyota Bridgestone 01:16.041 67
15 A. Wurz Williams Bridgestone 01:17.752 21
16 T. Sato Super Aguri Bridgestone 01:19.512 13